Teaching with Jennifer Findley
Upper Elementary Teaching Blog
In all my years of teaching, I have always taught classes where a majority of my students needed extra support for math. If you are familiar with my blog, you know that I use guided math centers and small group math instruction quite a bit to meet the needs of all my students. Over the years, I have learned several strategies to effectively support my students and … [Read more...] about 7 Ways to Support Students with Math Centers
St. Patrick's Day is not a big holiday but it is one of my favorites. I love all the themes that come with this holiday: sneaky leprechauns, pots of gold, and luck galore. This makes it perfect for themed math centers and fun writing prompts. I want to share with you my favorite St. Patrick's Day activities for upper elementary students that are engaging and aligned with … [Read more...] about St. Patrick’s Day Activities for Upper Elementary
Over the last decade, there has been a major shift in reading assessments. Students used to be assessed only on multiple choice questions. However, now they are required to write constructed response reading questions. Answering constructed response questions requires a different set of skills than those that are needed for multiple choice questions and can be a … [Read more...] about Ways to Support Students with Constructed Response Reading Questions
With budgets decreasing more and more, many schools require teachers to have fundraisers to supplement field trips or pay for club functions. Today I want to share some tried and true fundraising ideas that are easy and students love. Many of these require no money up front and can be started immediately. My teaching experience has been exclusively in Title 1 schools so … [Read more...] about Fundraising Ideas for Schools and Teachers
Math centers are a huge part of my math instruction, and over the years I have had my students complete a lot of different math centers. However, in the past three years as I become more comfortable with math centers, I have begun incorporating at least one higher level math center as part of my normal math center rotations. To see what I typically have in my guided math … [Read more...] about Higher Level Math Centers for Upper Elementary Students {Including Free Centers}
One of the toughest things about teaching fifth grade is definitely the word problems. By fifth grade, a lot of students have become so dependent on using key words that they no longer even read for meaning when they're solving word problems. However, as fifth grade teachers know, key words only take the students so far. I have read many articles and blog posts that are … [Read more...] about Solving Word Problems Without Relying on Key Words
Though I have never been a "textbook teacher", I can definitely see the benefit of using a common text with the students, particularly in science and social studies. I typically use only a textbook or common text for social studies, occasionally for science, and never for ELA or math because my district does not have a mandated textbook for either of these subjects. … [Read more...] about Textbook Reading Tips {How to Make Textbooks Engaging and Comprehensible!}
Teaching students to justify their answer in math can be difficult, but thankfully it doesn't have to be. I want to share with you some ideas for teaching students how to justify answers in math, as well as some of my favorite resources for providing much needed practice with math tasks and word problems. 1. Create an anchor chart with clear examples and your … [Read more...] about Teaching Students How to Justify Answers in Math
